Kumar, founder andchair of the RepublicanOn October 15, 2016 Kumarhad hosted a 5,000-strong rallyand reception that doubled as aBollywood-style extravaganza forTrump at the Raritan Center inEdison, New Jersey, by nearly

5,000 people. There, the thenGOP presidential nominee calledKumar “a great guy and a goodfriend,” going on to announce,“I’m a big fan of Hindu and a bigfan of India — big, big, fan.”Thanks to that, now Kumarwas in Washington — with hisson Vikram and daughterManasvi Mamgai, an Indianactress, supermodel and a formerFemina Miss India, in tow — hob-nobbing with all of the moversand shakers in the Trump camp,including The Donald himself.

In an interview with India
Abroad, Kumar said, “We participated in 11 events over two-and-a-half days,” but singled out the
candle-light Leadership Dinner at
Union Station the night before
the inauguration as being the
most unforgettable.

As Kumar described it, “Thedinner and meeting were withhis major donors and friends andhis inner circle of the campaign —in addition to all the cabinetnominees who were there — andhe (Trump) brought each one ofthem, one by one to our table tointroduce them to the ‘Kumarfamily’ and he would introduceus as the guys who got us mil-lions of votes.”Kumar said, “He didn’t quitesay RHC (Republican HinduCoalition) and all that; he saysthe Kumar family.”Kumar stressed that thesewere big-time donors and hisclosest confidants, people fewknow about outside and mostlikely Trump’s close friends – andbillionaires.“They came and it was oneminute here, one minute there.So, I didn’t even recall all thesepeople and I didn’t even askthem for their cards,” ,” he said.Kumar also gushed about thewhole inauguration experience,saying during Trump’s swearing-in on the steps of the US Capitol,“We were in Section 3” (reservedfor close friends and majordonors to Trump’s campaign).“We had the Hindujas join usin a major way,” he said, notingthat Prakash Hinduja (chair ofthe Hinduja group in Europe) hadflown in for the dinner.

Kumar said that such supporters showe the RHC had major
support from India Inc.

Asked who he meant, he said,
“When I say India Inc, it’s all of
these guys who have sought out
meetings with me: from the
Ambanis – both Ambanis in a
way competing with each other a

C

A Heady Time for Shalabh KumarTrump’s biggest Indian supporter at the inauguration was feted, feasted and praised, often by The Donald himself

Foreign Affairs Committee; US
Representative Barbara
Comstock, R-Va.; the GOP governors of Guam and the
Commonwealth of the Northern
Marianna Islands, Eddie Baza
Calvo and Ralph Torres, respectively; and some ambassadors
from South and East Asia. Still,
the majority of guests were
Chinese Americans.

Besides Navtej Sarna, India’sambassador, the ambassadors ofSri Lanka, Afghanistan, SouthKorea and Singapore were alsopresent. Royce said the Trumpadministration “is looking toincrease its relationship with theAsian countries,” and exhorted,“We should reach out to ourfriends in Asia.”Royce also said it was impera-tive for Asian AmericanRepublicans to help change howmany Asian were admitted to IvyLeague universities, claimingthat many of them are discrimi-nated against by the prevailingquota system.

“These admissions have to be
based purely on merit,” he said,
arguing that Asian American students who excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics should be provided with
permanent visas so that they can
work in the U.S. and power the
economy in a competitive global-ized marketplace.

In his brief, Sarna declared,“This is a great celebration ofAsian success and I am veryhappy that Indian Americans arepart of the successful large Asiancommunity.”Ahluwalia, the finance chairfor the event, said he wasimpressed by the Indian-American turnout, even if itcould not compare with theChinese-American one, and itwas important to generate a criti-cal mass with other Asian-American groups that wouldensure they had an effective plat-form to address their commonconcerns.

He said such groups workingtogether could help get the mes-sage out to the new administra-tion that Asian Americans stoodready to contribute to the agendaof the new administration andalso be part of the mainstream.

Ahluwalia was particularly
proud that it was his son Ammad
Ahluwalia, who kicked off the
celebration with a rendition of
the American national anthem.

Some of the Indian-Americanguests had help raised funds tosupport the efforts of Ahluwalia,Walia, and Kumar to ensure avisible Indian-American pres-ence. These included long-timepolitical activists such as SanjayPuri, founder of the US-IndiaPolitical Action Committee, andhis wife Aparna; Ajay Kothari,president of Axtrox Corporationand a rocket scientist who workswith the Pentagon and NASA;entrepreneur and the DC-areaTrump supporter VinsonPalathingal and his wife Asha;

Rao Linga of the TeluguAssociation of North America;and Harsh Sethi, CEO of theChantilly, Virginia-based PunitaGroup. At the end of the gala,along with Ash Khare, a long-time grassroots activist fromPennsylvania and the only IndianAmerican to be a presidentialelector in the Electoral College,Ahluwalia and Walia began a ses-sion on how Indian-Americangrassroots activism and fund-raising can help ensure the com-munity had more clout in theadministration and in Congress.

Khare said, “As I see it, IndianAmerican community is lookedat as a cash cow by politiciansfrom both sides, and the commu-nity leaders have to decide whatexactly is the direction they wantto take the community, in termsof its interactions with theseguys.”He acknowledged that every-body points to the Jewish-American template and agreedthat “they have done great, but ittakes time and unity among theleaders for a sense of purpose.”Khare said, “We have to alsodepend on our Indian-Americanfederal, state, and local leaders toshow up and wave the flag andclaim the turf that we are some-body.”Ahluwalia also argued thatIndian Americans had to fundsuch efforts “because otherwisethe Chinese American communi-ty and others will always try tooutsmart … us.”He said that the communitycould catalyze the growth of theU.S.-India strategic and commer-cial relationship because suchstrengthening of ties could alsotranslate into gains and successfor the community itself.

Community Makes Its Presence Felt at the Asian American Ball

Danny Gaekwad at the Leadership Dinner with Kellyanne Conway and Senator Jeff Sessions.